I found this quote the other day attributed to Terrence Gargiulo. Stories are powerful things. When one person listens to another’s story, the connection is undeniable. The hearer of a story holds a great treasure in their hands.

Could this be the missing ingredient in our discourse today? Our conversations have been reduced to exchanges on Twitter or Facebook, without us ever actually meeting each other.

At Wichita Falls Faith Mission, we hear stories every day at our two shelters, Faith Mission and Faith Refuge. My motto is, “Every person has a story, and every story matters to God.” Without their stories, the men, women and children that come in are no more than bed numbers and statistics to us. But when we simply listening, three things can happen:

Judgment is replaced with a plan.

Strangers are replaced as allies.

Despair is replaced with hope.

Joseph’s story was laced with pain and loss. When he came to Faith Mission, he had all but given up on any hope of a future. Today, he is living in his own apartment, working part-time and looking for ways to give back to those who listened and helped him regain his life again.

Stories won’t heal all our differences. We will never agree on everything. But at least when we listen before we disagree, we will know something about each other. And that might make the person more important than the disagreement. Wouldn’t that be something?

My heartfelt thanks go out to all who support the work at Wichita Falls Faith Mission. Our community always steps up where it counts.